World Cup Of Hockey Update: Toews Leads Canada Past Hossa, Europe

Jonathan Toews scored twice and added an assist for a three-point evening as Canada clinched Group A at the World Cup of Hockey on Wednesday. The Blackhawks captain was named the number one star of the game, a 4-1 Canadian victory. Corey Crawford got the start in net and stopped 17 of 18 in the win.

The only shot that got past Crawford was friendly fire. Marian Hossa had the lone goal for Team Europe, who also advanced to the single elimination semifinals. We already know that Team Europe will face Team Sweden on Sunday at noon CT (no conflict with the dumpster fire Chicago Bears, who play at night this weekend).

Sweden advanced with an overtime loss to Team North America on Wednesday. Niklas Hjalmarsson skated 16:51 and Marcus Kruger was on the ice for 15:01 in the loss. The game was by far the most exciting of the tournament to date, with a ridiculous overtime period capped by Nathan MacKinnon undressing Henrik Lundqvist for the game-winner.

At 2:00 pm CT, Russia will face Finland with a spot in the semifinals on the line. The game is on ESPN in the US. The United States, already eliminated because their roster is hot garbage, will play the Czech Republic at 7 pm CT on ESPN2.

Wasn’t just the coach that failed team USA. Roster selection is also to be blamed. Kessel had surgery, so that’s partly why he was omitted. But there’s a number of other decisions that boggle the mind. Either Johnson over Justin Fault being one of the more egregious.

USA could field a way better roster then they did in Olympics and this. Its totally the roster. That coach makes me laugh. CAN has deepest roster in these events and you could have the top players from every other country on one team against CAN and that would be good.

USA did beat Canada in the first game. Had things been different they might have had different results. Had they played Canada 100 times, would they lose more than 50 times? Yep. But strange things can and do happen in a hockey game. So in a 1 game scenario they are good enough to beat Canada.

Yes anything can happen in one game but Canada could field 3 teams in this tournament and compete. USA definitely missing Guys like T Johnson, Faulk, shattenkirk etc but still not good enough to beat Canada they just aren’t. Preliminary games are a warm up

As I mentioned – when I saw him at Hawk’s Prospect scrimmage… Kid can fly!!!

Watched the video of his goal- i have never seen a guy Tapping his stick inside his own Blue line- as the 3 on 2 develops (while all 3 O guys are still inside their zone)…

From knows he is fast!!! From skated like McDavid/Mathews on the recent 2 on 1 @ WC… basically takes two powerful strides and covers about 30 feet… I know he isn’t Mathews/McD… but nice to see that kind of stride in Hawk’s system.

2nd in KHL scoring right now… drafted by Hawks (never did much for Hawks/minors)… big body/supposed to be sniper… perhaps late bloomer- like Panarin??? I have never seen him play… but his Stats are really trending well for him.

NHL clubs hold exclusive rights on European players for 4 years after the player is drafted. So that right would have expired last year. However, since Shalunov was signed makes it a more unique situation. He signed an AHL deal with Rockford and spent a year in North America. Had he signed a regular ELC it would have been a 2 or 3 year ELC and the Hawks could have tolled his contract. Like what the Blues did with Sobotka. Since he didn’t I just wasted your time with that useless fact. Let’s see if he can keep up the scoring as he hasn’t shown anything prior to this point that would make you think he could before we wonder if he’d even be willing to make another go of North America.

He’s signed in the KHL. It appears he re-upped with Novosibirsk Sibir on another 1 year deal this summer. If he were to come back over he couldn’t sign anywhere until after his season in Russia is complete.

I doubt he ever comes over.

In more interesting news, Jacob Trouba has just asked to be traded from the Winnipeg Jets. I know he’s still young. I know he’s a right shot…but he’s played 211 career NHL games and has 72 points. I’d like a bit more production for the numbers that have been thrown around. He played 65 and 65 then 81 and has put up seasons of 29, 22, and 21 points. 3 years in the league and regressing each year. I can see why he hasnt gotten an offer sheet and why the Jets are hesitant to give in to his demands.

Watching the world cup. Corey Perry just scored. Critiquing the ESPN broadcast. They showed Marchand, Crosby, and Bergeron. It looked like a cartoon. Then after Perry scored they had a view from a camera on the official….that was awesome and needs to be brought in full time immediately.